Backlog of patients puts NHS under financial pressure

IT WILL take years for the Welsh NHS to recover from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, thanks in part to a massive backlog of patients and new demands on some services.

Although the Welsh Government pumped in an extra £1.4n to the NHS for 2020-21 in response to the pandemic, this is set to end in the middle of the coming financial year.

A new study has estimated that the costs of dealing with postpandemic health pressures will reach hundreds of millions of pounds for at least the next five years.

Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre has assessed a number of factors and found there will be a significant funding gap between health spending by the UK Government in England and total funding pressures for the NHS in Wales.

The shortfall could peak at £740m in 202223, the report concluded, and could average £360m a year from 2023-24 to 2025-26.

The lack of cash will inevitably lead to tough decisions and trade-offs for the next Welsh Government after the Senedd elections on May 6, it concluded.

The study assessed pre-pandemic trends in NHS spending and underlying spending pressures from an ageing population, as well as the likely significant additional funding pressures for the NHS over the course of the next Senedd term.

Despite ploughing £1.4bn into the Welsh NHS response to the Covid-19 pandemic, this will not be enough to meet the direct and indirect costs of the pandemic, the report said.